The draft amendment to the State Language Act is intended to strengthen the status of the state language in selected areas of official and public relations, as well as to remove ambiguity in the interpretation of certain provisions. Its inclusion in the commenting process is announced by the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic in the preliminary information published on the legal regulations portal slov-lex.
“The aim of the law is also to create legislative conditions to ensure effective state supervision,” the ministry explains. It also declares that the amendment will respect international treaties and the need to develop minority languages in Slovakia.
The necessary change in the law points to the disregard of some provisions of the State Language Act as a result of the possibility of their ambiguous interpretation, as well as to the repeated violation of the same provisions of the law by the same persons, caused by the limited competences of the supervisory authority and the low rates of fines, according to the Ministry of Culture.
It stresses that the obligatory use of the state language as a uniform means of communication among the citizens of the Slovak Republic is a basic prerequisite for the functioning of social, political, cultural and economic life in the territory of the Slovak Republic.
The amendment to the State Language Act has been included in the government's plan of legislative tasks for 2024.
Source: TASR
